Former Nigeria Bar Association President, Chief Wole Olanipekun, SAN, advocated for a constitutional amendment during a speech in Ogun state, citing the urgent need for improving the country’s situation. According to VANGUARD NEWS,
the Senior Advocate of Nigeria attributed the escalating insecurity and economic challenges as key factors prompting a significant outflow of young Nigerians to foreign lands.
Recalling his 2002 encounter with then-President Olusegun Obasanjo, Olanipekun revealed how his proposed solutions were met with rejection and near confrontation.
Olanipekun contended that Nigeria existing constitution is flawed, emphasizing the necessity for a more compassionate and people-centric constitutional framework.
He stressed that restructuring is imperative if Nigeria intends to entice its diaspora youth to return home.
He remarked,
“We need a constitution with a humane face. I’m a lawyer, but we are deceiving ourselves; our constitution is fake, and I have said this repeatedly, but then you will ask lawyers, ‘If we say the constitution is fake, why are we practicing it’?”
He also said,
“I, as president of the NBA, led a delegation of the association to President Obasanjo in 2002; he almost boxed me;
I’m here in Ogun State, and I’m saying this; he is still alive; We also appeal to the powers that be now, to our President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, that the time for us to restructure this country is now.
If we do not do it, these children that we are raising abroad might not return home; they won’t come here.”